Generational Diversity: Mastering the Boomer-X-Y Divide

Succession Planning
Published December 2007
Generational Diversity: Mastering the Boomer-X-Y Divide
Karen Bedell

Succession planning — the development of successors for top leadership and management roles — is critical for any company. The smooth transition of power and leadership, of management and institutional knowledge is vitally important to an organization's long-term success.

But while there is always agreement that this should be a strategic focus, dealing with the tactical pressures of an organization's everyday existence means succession planning gets pushed to the back burner again and again.

Right now, there are three powerful demographic forces providing a very real imperative for every company to bring succession planning front and center. First, the boomer generation — 75 million people born between 1946 and 1960 — comprises 45 percent of America's workforce, and they are getting ready to retire or cut back in droves.

Second, Generation X, the generation right behind the boomers, with about 45 million people, is currently in middle management roles. They are the natural next leaders, and they are champing at the bit to fill that role. But even if every one of them can and does step up, the math indicates there will still be a dearth of leadership.

This leads to the third demographic force — Generation Y. This generation of 70-plus million born after 1980 is plentiful and well educated, but is not a ready-made solution to talent gaps. Organizations cite, time and again, myriad problems recruiting, training and working with them.
Gen Y is in demand and knows it, so recruiting messages need to stand out. Gen Y also presents companies with generational diversity that causes friction with Gen X and boomers. If an organization wants to utilize Gen Y for its growth and continued success — and it has to — it requires careful planning and attention to the recruitment and training of these future leaders. A successful succession plan must address how to integrate and train Gen Y employees. That's actually quite simple.

Understanding the Why of Ys
Smart organizations know that in today's world, it no longer makes sense to make employees wait until they have "proven" themselves before giving them leadership-training opportunities. Companies have to leverage generational diversity as part of their succession planning. They must train boomer and Gen X employees to help develop Gen Y employees, so that younger workers are ready sooner rather than later to step up into management roles.

These opportunities need to be offered very early in a Gen Y employee's tenure in order to:
Help them avoid costly mistakes. Gen Ys can and do upset a lot of internal and external stakeholders.
Get the most out of them. You need their ideas and insights.
Fill some generational skill gaps. They don't know as much as they think they do.
Build a more robust recruiting message. They have lots of choices, and training is a strong recruiting tool.
Give them a strong reason to stay. Show them a career path and how to navigate it.

Many companies find their Gen Y employees difficult to deal with and are having trouble implementing training programs. Gen Y employees are routinely cited as having a profound sense of entitlement, having poor person-to-person communication skills and being unprepared for leadership roles. A recent Conference Board Report, titled "Are They Ready to Work?" seconded those findings, and researchers reported that employers were discouraged by their new hires' poor communication skills, poor leadership skills, and poor skills in the areas of professionalism and work ethic, teamwork and collaboration, and oral communication.

Read the full article at:
http://www.talentmgt.com/succession_planning/2007/December/481/index.php?pt=a&aid=481&start=0&page=1